The Basics

MASTURBATION (MAS-ter-BAY-shun)Is one of the delights of human existence. Unfortunately, masturbation is not always thought of or mentioned in positive terms, and sometimes it's difficult for people to get good information about masturbation and how to get the most out of it. That's why we put together JackinHow-To – to give beginners a guide to the joys of self-pleasure.

FEMALE MASTURBATIONFor females, masturbation consists of rubbing the genital region and/or stimulating the clitoris, which is a small organ a lot like a tiny penis. Like men, women can experience orgasm as a result of masturbation or intercourse. JackinWorld's focus is on male masturbation; check out Jill Diddler.

For males, masturbation is the act of manually stimulating the penis to produce pleasure. (If you've ever walked in on someone and saw him rubbing himself down there, or if he suddenly covered himself up, or if he was in bed alone and acted like you interrupted him, he may have been masturbating.) For adults and older teens, masturbation usually ends with ejaculation (ee-JACK-you-LAY-shun), in which the liquid that contains sperm cells, semen (SEE-min), is ejected from the penis.

If you've ever masturbated to ejaculation, you know the answer to this question! In addition to feeling so good, masturbating relieves sexual tension that builds up naturally over time. Just about every male in his teens or older gets "horny," in which his mind gets preoccupied by erotic (sexy) thoughts.

If you can read this, you're old enough to masturbate! You may, though, be too young to ejaculate. Most boys begin to ejaculate semen when they're between the ages of 12 and 15, although some begin ejaculating at a later or earlier age. You can still masturbate and even have orgasms before you're old enough to ejaculate. However, for most males, the best-feeling orgasms are those that are accompanied by the ejaculation of a good amount of semen.

Nothing at all. Years ago it was commonly believed that masturbation caused blindness, insanity, hairy palms (!), or other disorders – even though back then, like now, masturbation was extremely common. All of these terrible beliefs have been disproved through modern science, even though the rumors and old wives' tales persist. (If those stories were true, there would be an awful lot of blind, insane, hairy-palmed people running around!) Masturbation is not "sick," it is not only for gay people, it is not harmful in any way, and – of course – it's a whole lot of fun.

Absolutely, positively not! You've probably heard somebody call someone else a "jerk-off" as an insult, or heard someone imply that he doesn't need to masturbate because he gets "real" sex. That's all a bunch of B.S.! Trust us – in almost every case like this, the person who's throwing around such insults actually does masturbate, feels guilty about it, and then uses his insults to make others feel guilty about masturbating. It's a horrible, vicious circle that keeps everyone feeling guilty about this wonderful thing our bodies can do.

For the first few months or years after they discover masturbation, almost all guys masturbate more often than they ever will in their lives. It's not uncommon for a 13- or 14-year-old to masturbate 3, 4, or even 5 or 6 times per day. (We've even heard from people who have orgasmed 22 or more times during a 24-hour period!) It's not surprising, then, that some guys worry they may be doing it too much. It is possible that time spent masturbating could be put to more productive use – but if you would have spent it just watching TV or something, don't worry about it.

There is no "normal" frequency of masturbation. You cannot "run out" of sperm (any more than you can "run out" of spit), so you can masturbate as often as you like. The worst thing that can happen is your penis might get a little sore. (Rub any part of your body that much and the same thing will happen!) In any group of healthy high-school- or college-age guys, some masturbate several times a day, some once a day, and some only once or twice a week or less.

This is a very common worry among teenagers. But rest assured you can have a great time masturbating (and having two-person sex) with just about any penis size. Now, you might worry about how you "measure up" to other guys. You may get insecure in the locker room, especially if you see a lot of older boys with larger genitals. Or maybe you've happened across an erotic video showing a guy who got the job because of his exaggerated anatomy.

Many males discover masturbation by accident, when one day they're rubbing their penis and it feels so good they don't stop until they have an orgasm. But there are finer points to masturbation, and there are many ways to make it more enjoyable.

Many guys like to masturbate with some kind of lubrication between their hand and penis, while others don't bother. One factor to consider is whether or not you're circumcised. If you were never circumcised, and therefore you have some extra skin on your penis to move up and down along the shaft, you can simply grab on firmly and pump away, rolling the sleeve of skin that covers your penis back and forth over the shaft. This will cause your "foreskin" (that's the skin that surrounds the penis head) to move back and forth across your penis head, producing a great feeling.

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Quick JackinPoll

Do you masturbate to make yourself feel good, or to try and imitate sex?